Author 




Title 



Imprint. 



10 — i7;'.T2-a oro 






SENATOE THURMAN'S SPEECH, 

AT CINCIT^NATI. SEPT. 10. 1H70. 



AN EXPOSITION OF THE CENTRALIZING POLICY OF 
THE RADICAL PARTY. 

The Higliway to an Imperial Despotism. 

THE FINANCIAL POLICY AND ACHIEVEMENTS OF THE 
RADICALS REVIEWED. 



Tlie Debt to be rartde ]PerinaTT.ent for tlie Benefit 
of tlie lyational Bankers. 



THE CONDUCT OF OUR FOREIGN RELATIONS, AND THE 
LABOR QUESTION EXAMINED. 



.Mr. Pkesidknt and Fkllow-citizkns : Under 
what kind of government are we to live in the 
tiitiire ! Upon this question, that transcends 
all others in importance, I propose first to speak 
to- night. The qne.stiou has been forced upon 
the coiintry by theeVBUts of the last ten years, 
and the tim(^ ha'^ come when it must be con- 
sidered and decided. 



other by a false interpretation of it. Of these 
modes, the latter is far oftener resorted to than 
the former, and is attended with dangers from 
which the open amendment is comparatively 
exempt. Our Federal Constitution was estab- 
lished in 1788. In about three years afterward, 
ten articles of amendment were adopted ; but 
not one of them conferred an additional power 
upon the Government. On the contrary, they 
were all dftclaratorv of rights of the States or 
No candid and intelligent man wUldeny that [the people, and were designed to protect them 



CEXTKALIZATION. 



a revolution in our government has b^en going 
on for the last ten years ; and that its tendency 
has been and yet is, to deprive the States and 
the people of rights heretofore considered by 
all parties as unquestionable, and to vest in 
the (-reneral Government nearly t^very power 
that a government can possess over a people. 
The idea of our institutions bv which mat- 
ters of local concern were left to the States, Hud 
only those of general concern confided to the 
Federal Government, has been fast tading away 



igainst usurpation by the Federal authorities. 
In 1798 an eleventh amendment wa.s adopted, 
which was also restrictive of the powers of the 
Government. In 1804 the twelfth amendment 
was adopted, but its sole office was to alter the 
mode of electing the President and Vice Presi- 
dent. It conferred no new power upon the 
Government. 

So stood the Constitution until after the 
breaking out of the civil war. Then, for the 
first time, amendments were framed to restrict 



ince the Republican party came into power,] the rights of the States and to enlarge the 



and will soon cease to exist should the ascend- 
ancy of that party be prolonged. We are, 
therefore, forced to consider the question 



powers of the Federal Government. The 13th, 
14th. and 15th articles oi amendment were 
proposed and declared to be adopted, and these 



whether so ra'lical a change in our institutions: are the only amendments, of that character, 
is desirable, and we cannot consider it toosoouimade in the course of eighty-one years. But 
or too profoundly. while there have been but these three open 

I need hardly remind as intelligent an audi- [amendments to confer power upon theOovem- 
enceas this, that there are two modes by which jment, the Constitution has been so radically 
a government, acting under a written Consti-i changed, in pra«*ice, by false ia«erpretation9 
tution, may increase its powers. The one island usurpation, bMwt it'oan soarwely be a«Jd to 
by an open amendment of the Constitution, the 'have a real exiatanoe. 






In a time of profound peace States have been 
denied representation in Congress, >iave been 
compelled to abrogate their constitutions and 
adopt others to s\iit the views of the dominant 
party, and have been forbidden by law to alter 
the latter in matters of the merest local con- 
cern. Millions of people have been placed 
under the dominion of martial law, and civil 
government merely tolerated by the will or the 
caprice of a Brigadier General. Members of a 
State Legislature hav^- b^-en expelled and their 
seats given to others by act of Congress, upon 
an assumiption of power which, if warranted, 
would authorize Congress to disperse, at will, 
any State Legislature in the Republic. Acts 
of Congress have been passed authoi'ising the 
intervention of Fed»»ral officers or agents ^n 
State elections, punishing State ofl&cers by heavy 
lines and imprisonments, for refusing the vote 
of a colored man, bat leaving them unpunished 
if the rejected voter be white ; authorizing the 
arrest of the judges ■ f election, even during 
the election, upon the warrant of a petty Uni- 
ted States commissioner, conferring upon the 
circuit and district courts of the United States 
authority to trv and determine contests of elec- 
tion for State officers, from that of Governor 
down to that of constable, and clothing the 
President with power to employ th<- land or 
naval forces of the United States, or of the 
militia to enforce the law. 



importance of the former, and to diminish the 
jurisdiction and dignity of the laUer, Agaiu. . 
you will find a multitude of new crimes and 
otienses created — many of them most uselessly 
andvexs.'iouslycreatH'd- -punii?hable, of course, 
by the Federal tribunals ; thus bringing the 
Federal Government, day by day, more in con- 
tact with the people. Not a few of these crimes 
and ofif-nses are already punishable in tbc State 
courts under State laws, but this fact, instead 
of deterring, has seemed rather to incite Con- 
gress to i wanton display of power by making 
them punishable also in the Federal court^ In 
Federal law. in briei, the purpose seems to 
be that the General Government shall intrude 
itself everywhere and assume jurisdiction of 
everything. 

And, now, when to all these facts you add 
the further consider ation. that the Government 
maintains a large army and navy and a stili 
larger host of civil employees, that the Treas- 
ury Department alone has under its control 
more than twenty thousand persons, and the 
other departments employ, in the aggregate, 
over twice as many mwre ; that the Federal 
taxes annually amount lo over !H(>0,(iOO,00<>, 
and th»t all of this vast sum is annually ex- 
pended ; and then reflect that the tendency of 
every government clothed with such vast 
po vers is to usurp more power still, and I ask 
you if it is nt»t time to consider whethei- the 



By other laws the State banks have beenlimperial, centralized government that looms up 
ruthlessly taxeft out of existence — their destruc- before us, is a desirable thing for the people of 
tion, and not revenue, being the avowed pur- 1 America. 

pose of the law.s — and thus the States are pro- 1 1 am, l\y temperament and habit, diposed to 
hibited the exercise of a power enjoyed by themjtake a hopeful view of affairs. 1 never have 
from the foundation of the Government, andlbeeu, and am not, an alarmi.st where my judg- 
the whole sitl\ject of ihe currency has been [ment finds no cause for alarm; but I cannot 
seized upon by Congress. look at the vast strides toward consolidation 

An unlimited right to construct works of in- 1 that have recently been taken, and hear the 
ternal improvement in a State or States, with-ldoctriues promulgated that aie almost daily 
out their consent, is boldly declared and often|heard in the (.Ongresy, without feeling that the 
acted upon, while a power to regulate, by actsireserved riglits of the States and the people are 
of Congress, tolls and charges upon every rail- threatened with but little less than anuihila- 



road or canal, and every navigable river in the 
Republic, is openly asserted in the Halls of 
Congress. Power to charge a higher rate lor 



tion. Once more, then, I ask, is this threat- 
ened change in our institutions desirable t Is 
local self-government a laihire, or an evil that 



transportation thi^^n their State charters allow, oughi to be abolished' Ought the States to 
has been conferred by Congress upon State cor- j be reduced to the dependent condition of mere 
porations, and to of her corporations ot the sort, departments oi- counties;' Oiight Congress to 
privileges and faculties have been given by be clothed with the imperial powers of a Brit- 
Congress that.the States creating them refu.-ed]ish Parliament, and the great body of the laws 
to confer. The State corporations are thus, oni affecting the rights, the welfare, and the liber- 
the one hand, made superior to their creators, ties of the people, emanate from it <ind from it 
and enabled to set their charters at defiance ;j alone ? These are the questions that are forced 
while, on the other, iheir very existence isiby events upon your consideration, (j^xiestions 
made dependent on congressional action, andlas important as ever engaged the attention of 
they mav soon become the mere slaves of con-! a people, questions whose magnitude far trans 
gressional will. cends the minor matters of debt, finance, and 

Then look at your judicial system. Turn to!taxation. That they are real, ajjd not iruagi- 
yonr Federal statute-books and you will findjnary questions, none bat the i;^norant, the 
them covered with new laws to enlarge the 'frivolous, or the unprincipled, will dispute, 
powers of the Federal courts at the expense ofiLet us, then, turn our thoughts to their solu- 
the State courts, to increase the authority andjtion, before it is too late. 



1 Now, my friends, I am oppoae*^ to the neu- 
tralization of all powers in the Federal (iov- 

. J ernment, tor reasons that can be but briefly 
ami imperfectly stat«ii in the proper limits of 

'^"■'i. a speech 



Representatives, sitting in your own State 
Capitol, under your own eyes, and without 
foreign interference. • But let them bi- made 
i>y Congress, and the twelve Senators from 
New England, not chosen by or responsible to 



First. I am opposed to it because it wouldlyou, would have six times the power of your 
be destructive of the existence of the Republic, [own two Senators. Th- Senator.s and ReprH- 
The Republic could not, in my judgment, long sentatives of other States, far outnumbering 
endure auder such a systeni. It would Invak your own, would dictate your local laws, uot 
down under its i>wn weight. There^ never was with reference to your interests, will, or hap- 
a greater mistake than to suppose that a gov- piness, but with relereuce to the interests. 



ernment of despotic powers is alone alout- able 
to govern a great extent ot territory. The 



will, and prejudices of their own constituents. 
And thus a truly Representative Government 



verv reverse of the proposition is nearer theiin your local <oni«rus would cease to exist. 
truth. Vast monarchies have existed, cover- j and you would be governed by foreign roui- 
ing great portions of the earth, and set-miuglmunities instead of by yoursnlves. tixich a 
for a time to be indestructibln, yet how few of governuieut would soon become intoleaable 
And wliere they yet exist, how 



them remain! 
miserable, comparatively, is the comlition of 
the people I I am not speaking of v< impact 
countries of limited extent, in whiili central- 
ized power is possible, and may long eudure. 
Nor am I speaking; of people %vho have uo aspi- 
ration for freedom, or for a better state of 
mental, material, and social well being. What 
I speak of is a territory similar to our own, 
and a people loving freedom and .st-eking pros- 
perity. And it is in reference to such a teri-i- 
lory. with such a people, that 1 affirm it to be 
an impossibility that a great centralized gov- 
ernmei)t can long rule over it. Either the 
government will undergo a change, or the ter- 
ritory will be rent into pieces, and separate and 
independent gov<?rnmeuts be set up in the frag- 
ments. 

This, then, is my first objection to such a 
centralized government as I have supposed. 
Its inevitable result would be. in my opinion, 
the disintegration of the Republic at uo very 
distant day. 

Secondly. But were it possible for such a 
government to rule this country, what would 
be its eflfects ' We have a territory of vast 
extent, stretching from ocean to o-ean, with a 
great diversity of climate, soils, productions, 
arts, industries, occupations, capital, and 
wages. The diversity of peoples is not less 
remarkable. And then the people of each 
State have grown up under their own State 
laws, to which their aflections are bound by 



and dissension, rebellion, and civil war would 
inevitably follow. 

Yet again. It is not only essential to free- 
dom, but it is equally essential to pure gov- 
ernment, that the ruling authority be not too 
far rfmi>ved from the people, .lust in propor- 
tion as the law- maker is independent of and 
separated from his constituents, in the same 
proportion will corruption in legislation in- 
crease, (rive to Congress jurisdiction over the 
subjects chat now >'elong to the State legi^la- 
tures, and it would soon become a more cor- 
rupt l>ody than ever disgraced the earth. Au<l 
unless a government can subsist in utter rot- 
tenness, such a government could uot endure. 

Thes- are. briefly, my objections to that 
centralization of power with wliich this country 
is meu«ced. 1 am no enemy of the Federal 
Grovernment. I glory in its xistence, and in 
the Union of the states. 1 regard the Union 
as one of the greatest blessings a people ever 
enjoyed. 1 am the advocate of every power in 
the Federal (jovernment that ought in reason 
to belonji to it. and that is conferred by the 
Constitution. But 1 am not willing that it 
shall absorb all powei's. I aia not willing that 
the States shall be overthrown and local s-lf- 
goverument be blotted out. 1 am uot willing 
that other peoples shall make laws tor <)hio 
in that which roncerns Ohio alone. 1 am not 
willing to see i,;orruption and legislation become 
synonymous terms. I am uot willing to see a 
consolidated government first crush out the 



the force of habit, and because they are the liberties of the people and finally end in a di 
euactments of their own free will. Add to ruption of the Rejjublic 
these considerations the difference in social 
observances and 



Le iving this subject with this brief and im- 
perfect discussion, 1 now turn to another. 



MOSKY-MAKIN<i LK«ISLATION. 



For ten years, nearly, the Republican party 



customs, and conceive, if you 
can. of a country in which local self-govern- 
ment is moie indispe^usable to the interest or 
happiness ot the j)eople, or in which it would 
be more impossible, without a crushing ty- 
ranny, to subject the whole community to anjhas been supreme in the Federal (jovernmeul. 
uniform, iron rule. During all this time it has had an uucontrolla- 

Again, as a question of rij/ht, wliat propriety ible majority in both branches of Congress, and. 
would there be in permitting N.w England orjfor the greater portion of the time, a President 
the South to make local laws for <Jhio.' Yourlin full sympathy with that majority. And 
local laws are uow made by your o.^v'^n localiwheu the man of its owu choice, Andrew ,lohu' 



\^ 



son, becoming President, and having, in the profits of the Whisky IJing for instance, re- 
language of Thaddeas Stevens, some splinters suiting fi-om a single alteration in the whisky 
of the Constitution sticking in his heart, un- tax, having amounted to aot less than $50,- 
dertook to pay a decent respect to the provia- 000,000, according to an official report. ' 

ions of that instrutneut, a two-thirds majority Then look at the astounding subsidies to rail- 
in both Houses of Congress rendered liim as road companies — mere private corporations, 
impotent as the Constitution itselt, and, im- To say nothing of the fifty-eight million. acres 
peacliing him foV the high crime and misde-i granted to States foi purposes of internal im- 
uieanor of regarding that instrument, only! pro vement, most of which have gone into the 
failed to depose him by the want of one vrote. hands of railroad companies — there had been 
All Federal legislation, then, for nearly ten'grauted by Congress before its last seasion 
years, has been in the hands of men chosen by directly to foui railroad companies — the Union 
the Republican Cor Radii^al) party, and now i Pacific and branches, Central Pacific, Northern 
the question is, how have they nxeruised their'Pacific, and Atlantic and Pacific — 124,000,000 
power? A review of their legislation will aures — mor« land than is contained in the mid- 
show that, with aa audainty and p^rsistencyidlH States, stretching from the Atlantic ocean 
never before equalled, they have employt^d th^j to the Mississippi river — that is to say, the 
law-making power to legislate money into theiseven States of New Jersey, Delaware, Penn- 
hands of themselves or their friends. Taking sylvani a. West Virginia, Ohio, Indiana, and 
advantage of the necessity to raise means to | Illinois. Besides this, a subsidy of over ^tjd,- 
carry on the war, they resorted to a system 000,000 in bonds was granted to the two llrst 
of loans by the sale of (TOVHrnment bonds, inamed roads — every dollar of which, though 
the efl^^ect of which was that, for every dollar in name a loan, will, it can hardly be doubted, 
it received, the Government g,4ve its promisejhave to be i*aid by tlie United States, 
to pay nearly two. That the necessary funds' To the Northern Pacific R-iil road Company 
could have been raised without such an enor-lthe land subsidy, originally granted, was 47,. 
mous sacrifice, I believe thac *ivi^ry well-in- '000,000 acres, to which Congress, at its last 
formed and candid man will now admit; but session, added nearly 6,000,000 more. So that 
the sacrifice was made, and the purchast^isjto this one private corporation has been given, 
of the bonds, and the (Tovernment agents whojof the best lands belonging to the people, a 
negotiated their sale, made such profits as territory equal to that of Pennsylvania and 
never before was seen in this or any otheriOhio riombiued. In other words. Congress has 
country, gi^en to tliis corporation the means to build. 

Under the pretense of raising the revenue j perhaps to build and equip, about two thou- 
for the same purpose, the customs duties, or'sand miles of railroad, to be the private prop- 
tarifi', were increased no less than three times erty of a few private individuals. Suppose 
in less than three years, and to a degree neverithat the Grovei-nment had built the road itself, 
before known or thought of; and the acts so with the means thus provided for its constmc- 
framed that it is, perhaps, safe to say that for'tion, and then bestowed it as a generous gift 
every dollar they put into the Federal treasury, upon a company of private persons, favorites 
they put three dollars into the pockets of thejof Congress and of t>.e party in power, what 
manufacturing monopolists. i would the country say .' And yet where is the 

To provide, as was said, a forced market for ' difference between that case and the case as it 
the sale of United States bonds, they taxed the] stands ' Wh it is the difference between giving 
State banks out of existence and created over I away a road already built and giving the means 
fifteen hundred national banks, with powersjto build it ? There is but one difference and 
and privilrges so vast that their annual profitslthat is prejudicial to the existing case. By 
range, according to Senator Sherman, from 1,5 'giving to a private corporation this vast body 



to 20 per cent. And the currency authorized 
by the banking act was so distributed as to give 
828.67 per capita to New England, only $12.iyl 



of land, Congrers has made it the greatest and 
monopolist the world ever saw. 

By its grant of 9ver 130,000,000 acres to rail- 



to the middle States, but 84.08 to the westernlroad corporations, it has deprived millions of 
States, and the southern States only 97 cents, landless people of thH chance to get homes, 
At this very day the amount of this currency [except upon the payment of exorbitant prices — 
allotted to .Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and land* that should have been reserved for actual 
Connecticut, with a population of about two'settlers and given to them under a system of 
millions, is $86,9 .7,808 ; while Ohio, with two'homestead laws, 

and a half millions of people, has but $18,405,-1 Not only this, the wealth, power, anddomin- 
385, In other words, these three States havejion thus conferr d upon these great and favored 
ab(mt $44 per he^d for every man, woman, and corporations will make them the overshadow- 
oeild in them, while Ohio has less than $8. ing and ruling power in at least a dozen States. 



By sudden changes in the internal revenue 
laws, knowing speculators have been enabled 
to acquire more than princely fortunes— the 



in reality they, and not the State legislatures, 
will choose Senators in Congress ; they, and 
not the unbiassed voice of the people, will el«ot 



Rf>pr«.sentativos. They, and not fre« States, 
will speak in the oboioe of Presileuts. 

Think ot a ro^d stretchinji from L ike Supe- 
rior to tlie Pacific ooean, embracing with its 
branches more than two thousand miles )f line, 
the property of a siuf^le corporation, and that 
corpor-<tion owning ev^ery alternate section of 
land, or its proceeds, in a belt of eighty miles 
wide for nearly the whole length of its line — 
forty sections, or 25,600 acres to the mi e — 
53,000,000 acres in all, or the proceeds of their 
sale at smli prices as the corporation may see 
fit to evact — with towns and cities owned V>y the 
corporation or a favored ring of its stoi'khol l- 
ers, scattered along the roid, and the crreal 
stockholders, those owning nearly all its stock 
and ruling its alfairs, residing in Boston, New 
York, and Pliiladei ohia, and you will have some 
iiiea of what the Northern Pacific railroad is to 
be, and what chance for political promotion 
any man within the limits of its iatluence 
would have should he daie seek to restrict its 
monopoly, restrain its exactions, or otherwise 
oppose its will 

Much is being now said about the relativ« 
rights of capital and labor ; much complaint i^? 
being uttered at what is said to be the exac- 
tions of capital and the depression of labor. 
The working men are everywhere forming 
unions, holding congresses, and issuing books, 
pamphlets, and newspapers to advocate their 
claims, and to protest against the unequal dis 
iribution of wealth, wuich they assert is re 
suiting from existing laws, and especially from 
their tendency to aggregate capital. But what 
aggregation of capital and privilege was ever 
seen equal to that created by Congress, by the 
charters it his granted and the donations it has 
made to the four railroad companies I have 
named ? What other corporations have ever 
become the owners in a fee of a territory equal 
to seven States of this Union, greater, than the 
area of (Germany ; and in aiidition to this 
wealth, been clothed with a corporate existence 
and immense corporate privileges of perpetual 
duration '! I am oertainly not so abaurd as to 
be an enemy of railroads. No man acknowl 
edges more fully than I do the immense advan- 
tage they are to the country. No man honors 
more than I do, the men who wisely project 
and honestly build and manage tlnm. I could 
mention names — some of the dead, some of the 
living — to whom Ohio owes a great debt of 
gratitude for the construction and liberal, wise, 
and successful management of her railways. 
But there is a vast diflFerence between roads 
built under State authority, with capital fur- 
nished by the stockholders, supervised by the 



feefore I leave this topic, I must call your 
attention to an alarming st^p, taken at the last 
session of vlongress, in the matter of thes«i land 
grants. Before then Congress had never granted 
any bat the alternate sections, designated by 
odd numbers, and iu defense of these grants it 
wa.s said that tliw construction of the railroads 
woull donlile the value of the even numbered 
sections retained by the Government, and hence 
there would be no loss of money. And accord- 
ingly the price of the retained .sections was 
raised from *1.2') to 62..')0 per acre. This de- 
fense never had any weight with me, for it 
treated the 'roveruiueut as a speculator in 
lands, seeking to extort the highest price from 
tile settler ; whereas I thought, and yet think, 
that it is not as a speculator, but as a beneficent 
parent that the Government ought to regard 
and administer these lands. But that was the 
defense, and with those who look at nothing 
but dollars and cents it suflBiced. But at th« 
last session the Senate threw even this defense 
away. For, iu the face of the most determined 
opposition, and after full discussion, it deliber- 
ately passed a bill granting to the Central 
branch of the Union Pacific railroad the even 
numbered secti»ns, the odd numbered having 
been already given to other railroad companies. 
And so, for a distance of about three hundred 
miles, lying partly in Kansas, partly in Nebras- 
ka, and partly in the territory of Wyoming, 
every foot of land belonging to the Government 
was granted, so tar as the Senate could do it, 
ti) railroad corporations. And this leads me to 
observe that yon must not suppose that be- 
cause all the land grabbing bills that passed 
the Senate did not go through the House, there- 
fore they are dead. In view of the approa)h- 
ing »:ongressional elections, and fearful of the 
people, the House laid some of them aside: 
but they are still upon its Calendar, to be acted 
upon next winter ; and should the Radical party 
triumph in the fall elections, you may rest 
assured that every one of them will pass. 

THE PUBLIC DEBT. 

I have now some brief remarks to make 
about the public debt. The admiuLstration is 
claiming great cre<iit for a reduction of this 
debt. The first thing I havf< to .-ay is that, 
taking the whole d-ibt together — the unwritten 
as well as the written — there were more than 
ten dollars of it paid under .fohnson's adminis- 
tration for every dollar paid unde^ Grant's. 
But if we look at the written debt albne, there 
were paid, under Johnson's administration, 
§147,000,000. while the total of the payments 
un<ier Grant is but $112,000,000. When, there- 
fore, Radical orators as is their custom, charge 



State, controlled and managed by her citizens, all their own crime.^, errors, and shortcomings 
and limited in extent, and roads chartered by upon Andrew .Fohnson, and claim credit for 
Congress, built with donations of the public what has been done under Grant, it is right to 
domain, spanning more than half the conti- remind them that far more of the debt was 
neut, and owned and controlled by a few rich discharged under the former than ha--* been 
men in the great oities of the Bast. , under the latter. 



• 



'.Bat, in trath, wbat oredit is du« to «itl\"r 
Administration for the reduction ? None what- 
ever. Whose money paid the debt ? Whs it 
ihe money of presidents and oougrrssmttn, or 
that of Uie people ? It was th^ pe >ple that 
raised the money, and their aj?fents, the Presi- 
dent and Congress, are no more entitled to 



us gold at par for our bonds, when we refuse 
to require agencies of our own creation to take 
thmn; when we even refuse to require new 
hanks, not yet organized, to take these new 
bonds, and when we refuse to require old 
hanks, which hav« made on the average from 
fifteen to twe ty per cent, annually upon the 



credit for the payment tnan 'is an attorney whoifranchise derived frqm the United States, to 



discharges a note of his principal with money 
placed in his hands by the latter for that pu - 
pose. No, my fellow-citizens, whatever credit 
is due for the reduction of the debt belongs to 
no a (ministration, to no Congress, to no one par- 
ty, but to the entire eople of the Unite i States. 
But I must not stop here, and leave unex- 
posed the stupendous hypocra<:!y ol this claim 
to merit on the part of our lia lical rulers 
They would have the people to understand that 
they intend to, and will, pay oflf the deVit, and 
they ask the support of the people because of 
that intent and capacity. Whereas, the truth 
is, they do not mean to pay the debt. They 
mean it to be per letual, as the debt of England 
is perpetual. Pay it off! Why, what would 
become of their entire system of National 
Banks, were it paid off? That system wholly 
rests upon the public debt. It is the debt that 
constitutes the security for its circulation, with- 
out which it would not enj . y public confidence 
for an hour. Remove that security, by a pay 
ment of the debt, and the whole fabric would 
tumble to pieces in ninety days. Now, wili 
those who rule the Radical party give up these 
banks? Have they the power to do it, if they 
would? Look at the House of Representatives. 
There are in that Hotise, according to a state- 
ment of a leading Radical, not less than sev- 
enty stockholders in National Banks — nearly 
one-third of the whole House. Have they any 
power there? If you doubt it, hear what your 
own a^nator, Mr. Sherman, chairman of the 
Finance Committee, said in the Senate on the 
13th of last .Inly. A funding bill had passed 
the Senate, requiring, among other things, that 
the banks, instead of the 6-per cent. Grovern- 
ment bonds they now own, an i which are held 
as a security for their circulation, should take 
other bo. ids bearing a lower rate of interest. 
It did not require them to exchange the former 
for the lattei', but left them free to sell the 
former, pocket the premium they hear, a.:d 
with the residue of the proceeds buy the new 
bonds. It wa-* a perfectly fair requirement, as 
I then thought and still think, and so thought 
a majorfty of the Senate, notwithstanding a 
strenuous opposition on the part of the banks 
But it was otherwise in the House. Nothing 
could induce that body to agree to the proposi- 
tion, and after two conference committees had 
sat upoo it, it was given up. Reporting the 
result of tke conference to 'the Senate, Mr. 
Sherman said: ' 

' 'I do not see how we lean go before the peo- 
ple of tke United States and ask them to lend 



am us to this extent in funding the public 
debt. But, air, the note of tke House shows the 
power of the National Banks. It is so yreat, at 
least in the House, that in order to secure a fund - 
iiiy bill, we have been compelled to abandon all 
provisions in regard to the National Banks.'" 

Kut the argument does not stop here. The 
Funding Bill, to which I have alluded became 
a law on the 14th of last July. I observe that 
the Republican National Executive Committee. 
Id their adili-t!S< to the people, claim great 
credit on account of this law. Now, let us see 
what is the object of the law, and what are its 
material provisions. The object is to refund 



tlie .5-20 bonds iu other bonds bearing a lower 
rate of interest. All these .')-20 bonds are now 
due, and can be paid as fast as the Govermiient 
can raise the means. But this law contem- 
pl ites an extension of the debt, represented by 
these bonds as follows: $200,000,000 for ten 
years, $300,000,000 for fifteen years, and 81,000, 
000,000 for thirty years. If the debt be thus 
extended, the Grovernm -nt will have no power 
to pay a dollar of it for ten years, and at the 
expiration of that period can only pay ^iJoO,- 
OOO.OOO. Then it must wait five years more 
before it can pay another cent, and when those 
years have gone by it can p»y but $300,000,- 
000, while as to the main l)ody of the debt, the 
$1,000,000,000, it will remain deprived for fif- 
teen years more, or thirty years in all, of any 
power to make payment whatever. For, ob- 
serve, the right to make payment belore ma- 
turity of the bonds is not reserved ; so the 
scheme is to prolong a portion of the debt ten 
years, another portion fifteen years, and the 
chief portion thirty years, or the life of a gene- 
ration . 

And yet these men who thus seek to continue 
the existence of the debt until nearly all who 
hear me will be in their graves, talk of paying 
off, and ask unbounded applause from the peo- 
ple. No more transparent hypocrisy, no plainer 
instance of double dealing with the people 
could be conceived. 

1 again affirm, and for the reasons I have 
already stated and others that I might state did 
time permit, that they neither mean or wish to 
pay off the debt. They want it to be perpetual 
to serve as a foundation for banks, to be a 
source of profit to stock jobbers and specula- 
tors to put money into the pockets of capital- 
ists by its annual drain of interest from the 
people, and to increase or sustain the political 
influence or power of those who regard a na- 
tional debt as a national blessing. 



FOKEION RELATIONS. 

A few words abont our foreign rt-lations. 
TbtTe arf but few persons, if any, i think, who 
will a^Sf^n that thest^ have been successfully 
managed by the administration. On thf con- 
trary, there sreuis to be a very decided Dpiuion 
ij> the oontraiy that, in this respect at least, 
the administration is n. failure. And the facts, 
it appears iu uae, luUy warrant this conviction. 
Shortlv betore the inauguration of General 
<Trant. a treaty — commonly I'alled th.- Johuson- 
(•larendon tjvaty — was negotiated with Great 
Britain for the settlement of our claii' s upon 
that country, and especially oui claims to in- 
demnity for the injiiry done to our commuroe 
by the confederate steamer,, the Alal>rtma 
.\gainst the ratification of this treaty the whole 
weight of the present administration w- 
thrown, and it was almost cOulemptuou^ly re 
jecte.i by the f^enate. This was at the March 
session of 1Sd9. 

By an order of the Senate the injunction of 
secresy upon its consideration was so far re- 
moved as to permi* thf publication of Mr. 
Sumner's elaborate speech ag.-iust it, and the 
speech was accordingly pulfilished. In that 
speech Mr. Summer made great demands upon 
Great Britain, and the fact of Ins leadership of 
the Radical party, of his position as cliairman 
of the Foreign Affairs Committee, and of the 
Seeming sanction of his views by the Senate, 
as eviileuced by its order to print his speech, 
and his only, gave tiuusiial and git-at impor- 
tance to that production — an importance that 
was heightened immensely by the President's 
recall of Mr. Johnson, our negotiator of the 
treaty, and the appointment of a bosom per- 
:<onal as well as political friend of Mr. Sumner, 
Mr. Motley, to tj-ke his place. This seemed to 
W a plain indorsement by the administration 
of Mr. Sumner's views, and accordingly it was 
given out by the newspaper organs of the Rad- 
ic^il party everywhere that a "vigorous policy" 
toward Great Britain was to be puisued, and 
that she would soon be brought to an unquaLi- 
tiHtt ailmissiou of our uemands, or made to pay 
the penalty of a refusal. 

And now. after the lapse of eighteen month*!, 
what has been done .' Where wre the results 
of the grand flourish of trumpets with which 
the administration let out .' Where is the 
iiiouey that our injured citizens were to receive, 
where the reparati<m to our wounded national 
honor upon which Mr. Sumner laid even more 
stress than upon oui money demfinds .' 

Y(ni can answer these questions as well as I 
vim. So far as the country knows, so far a$ I 



cloudless as a summer's day. By no quick, 
sharp, or vigorous policy has her equi^nimity 
been disturbed ; by no prying Yankee eye have 
her money bagg been seen ; and nowliere has 
the cross of St. George been lowered to the stars 
and stripes as an acknowledgment of wrong. 
But the great negotiator. Motley, whose genius 
was to find redress for all our complaints has 
been rudely kicked out by the President who 
appointed him, the gieat Senator Sumner, who 
but lately was the oracle on this subject, is in 
disgrace with the administration, ...nd the whole 
upshot ot the grand and vigorous policy we 
were promised is a petty quarrel in the Radical 
ranks. 

Let us now turn to Cuba. If there is a spot 
on thr* globe that ought to be free, Cuba should 
be free. Her insular position, an ocean's width 
between hrr and Spain, the heroism of her 
people, their liberil sentiments, their capacity 
for independent government, all cry aloud in 
her favor and demand her independence. Why 
ha:< she failed to achieve it f Why, though 
still struggling, does she seem to struggle in 
vain .' To my mind the answer seems plain. 
Had our Government manifested for the patriots 
of Cuba that sympathy that is due from the 
rec.t Republic to a brave people lighting and 
suffering for freedom, Cuba would, ere this, 
have been free. But they have received no 
such sympathy : worse yet, they have met 
with positive discouragement. While Spain 
has been permitted to provide herself, in New 
York, with a formidable navy to put down the 
Cubans, every vessel leaving our ports to carry 
succor to the latter bas been seized, or soxight 
to be seized, by our Government. While the 
persistency of Spain in holding the Cubans in 
sut.jectiou against their will has met with no 
rem(mstrance from our Government, a presi- 
dential message iias been sent to Congress, as 
discouraging in its tone and effects upon the 
patriots as if it had told them, in so many 
words, to lay down their arms. Yes, fellow, 
itizeiis, this is the treatment that an American 
p-ople — lor Cuba is America — struggling for 
rijpublican government and independent exist- 
en e have met with at the hands of a Repub- 
lican administration. This is the treatment a 
yieople, whose tiist act of political existence 
was to abolish slavery, have met with at the 
nauds of the special friends of the colored man. 
And here 1 must remark, for I do not mean to 
be unjtist, that it is not for obedience to our 
ueiitrahty laws that 1 censure tb admini.stra- 
tiou. So long ^is ttiey are in lorce, it is the 
dutv of all to obev them. But whv have thev 



know, nothing, absolutely nothing, has been nut been modified as the occasion demands ? I 
done. JNo new treaty has been negotiated, no feel sure that no Democratic vote would have 
•iamages hiVe been paid, no atonement for been given against their modification, but had 
alleged insult to the nation has been offered; every Democrat iu ongress voted nay, there 
bat, on the contrary our relations with per- was still a great Republican majority that could 
fidious Albion, as, eighteen months ago, she mould them as it pleased. And when it was 
was called by the Radicals, are as serene and, clearly perceived that their sole effect was to 



give aid to Spain and injure the cause of the|more likely to suflFer from a redundancy of 
patriots whv were they not changed t Let population than from a dearth *of it. In thirty 
those upon whom resis the responsibility an-lyears from now w.- will have one hundred mil- 
.swer. But whatever should be done with them, jlions of people, without counting a Chinese 
whether they should be altered or let alone, jimmigrant : in sixVv years, two Imudred mil- 
what possible excuse can be given for the atti-iions : in one hundred years, probably lour 
tude of the administration in this struggle. If hundred millions. We are in no danger of a 
it would not say one word to aid, it might atjscarcity of laborer^. 

least have refrained from saying words o; dis-i Nor do I think that low wages are a blessing 

couragement, to a good caus«. If it would notlto any counUy. In the opiniou of an eminent 

freely bestow on ih« right the sunshiue of its thinker, Buckle, low wages and despotism are 

favor it might surely have withheld the cold-iinseparable. It will be found, 1 think, that the 

ness of its contempt.' freer the institutions of a country are, the 

THE CHINESE QUESTION. f f*^^'' ""^^^ ' *^ ^^^ tendency to fair' wages for 

Before concl.-ding my remarks, I wish to say^^^^ ^«^ ^ag'-s f'^ ^amly owing to an un- 

Beiore couci.iiiiiig J- ' ,^«tinT. as it''^<l«al ^nd unfair distribution of the annual 

a few words upon the Ohintrse question, as it ^ , 

a lew woiuB «H » utM^ o^tv.- i.f..iv a H Production ot wealth. This annual product ii«i). 

i< called 1 can say but little, as tne tioui aa- / , . . . , „ ^, , <, , . ^ - i. . 

is oaiieu. i/»" y ■ f which is nearly all the result of labor, is being 

"Hfrot^BktLt: large CMneseimmigra-C--U^^^^ divided into four parts : rents to 
I ao m»t luiu A ^i,.^u\^ I rin Tint the landlord, interest to the monev lender, 

tion to this c.ouHtry is desirable. 1 ao not > .,1 



think it would be a valuable acquisition 
the contrary, 1 think it would be 



Qjj profits to the business man, and wages to the 
g^ J. j_ laborer. Wow, if the wages be low, it must be 

, . , „ „, ,„ „„,.„ ,.,rn\iju because the annual product is .small, and all 

ouslv- disturbing element. In race, civilua-l ^ • \ ■ 

ouhijf lUTvLiiiw ,6 . . ,, , ^^^ ^-.^j jclasses sufler, or because thai i^roduct i-s un- 

fairly distributed. In general, the latter is the 



tion, habits, education, and religion, 

nese are widely difl'erent from our people— so , ., . 

nese die wi«ci.t tviii^^ -.^r.+ruvr k-ause, and wheal wages are vety low the la- 
different as to torm a very .striking contrast. ^ x ^ -f' ■, . • ^ ui iv. 

uiueieui ar, V » ■ f,i orr,.. ry,.u boter gets but a bare subsistence, while the 
The European immigrants are «1 the same race, ^. % »• *« 1 . 

luex-ujupo" 6 „r,^i ,„hii^ other olas.'ies, or some ot them, .accumulate 

religion and civilization as ourselves, and wnile ' . j .u . - * v 

reugiuu, aii -• «^ ^„. ^„^„, J, .enormous wealth. And thus society becomes 
thev add immense y to the power and wealth , , • ^ .1 v. 1 rpi * 

mey duu '"^i"^ .' f ,„ ,,.j,..,, 'divided into the Very rich and very poor. That 

of the Republic, they do not seriously distuib . . , » •^. ^ 

01 Lijc ivcyu , .; .. , K;t„..-....i tliisis au untortuiiate cc 



ondition for a country 

hat its 

teni'encv is hostile to fiee institutions, as well 



the substantial homegeneity of our white pop u 
littiou. Their migratiou, therefore, Iteuefits the; 

country, and deserves encouragement. Not soi , . », 1 •, „ 

w^th the Chinese. TUey will never be.n.me,^^ to tne material com.ortot the people, is un- 
Were they to dwell here f'onbtedly trtie. I have theretore 110 sympa- 
thy with the cry for cheap labor and low 



one people with us 

for centuries, they would probably be as dis 
tinct from the white race as are gypsies in 
Spain from the pure blooded Spaniard. We 
are destined .to have a great commerce with 
Asia, and the natural result will be the volun- 
tary migratiwn from that continent of a limited 
number of business men. 1 see no objection 
to that. It will not interfere with our me- 
chanics or laV>orers, will not disturb our social 
or political system, while it will teu<). by an 
increase of our commercial connections, to add 
to our commerce and wealth. But that is a 
wholly different thing from the Coolie immi- 
gration that is now going on, and whicb, vf not 
stopped, must alarmingly increase. This im- 
migration is in no proper sense of the word 
voluntary. It is a kind of Chinese slave trade. 
Instead of an independent, sell-reliaut body ot 
freemen, it introduces a ht rde of quasi slaves 
working at half wages, by the command of a 
task master. 

And thi- leads me to notice a statement 1 



wages. They may give rise, it is true, t'> 
great public works and m.ignifi'-ent structures, 
but th«» iMjnefit is gained at the expense of a 
sutferins people. The l-'yramids are striki^ig 
monuments of the pride and ostentation of 
kings, but they are more striking c^9ideIK•^s of 
a degnded condition of the laboring classes. 
Ttiat country is likely to be most free and 
happy where, the annual produotion oi wealth 
being justly distrihuted. labor obtains a- fair 
reward. 

CONCLUSION. 

And now, in i-onclusion, my fellow Demo- 
crat!^, let me exhort you to do your whole 
duty. You have hs great a stake in this land 
as any other equal number of men. What 
benetits the Republic will >)enefit you — what 
iujures it will as surely injure you. Upon thf 
perpetitity of tree institution.-; and the exiat- 
ence of gooil government, depend the happi- 
ness of yourselves and your posterity Demo- 



have seen that this country needs cheap lalor ;jcratic principles h^ve actueved a glorious past 
in other words, men who will work for low for our country, and will work out an equally 
wa^'es- that there is a scarcity of laborers- here. I glorious future if they be preserved in their 
and therefore Chinese laborers should be im-| vigor and purity. Let us all, then, resolve 
ported to supply the deficiency. Ithat they shall not fail tor want of our support, 

I do not concur in this view. My opiniou islthat they shall sutler no dishonor trom our 
that we, ot rather our posterity, are muchjhands. 

Publiabed by the National Democratic Executive Ktsident Committee. 



/ 




